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Forum:Twins

I've noticed that there are lots of twins in the world of Arda. All of them are related to each other except Fili and Kili, who are Dwarves. I was hoping that someone who knows something about genetics can make some conclusions about them. —Unsigned comment byThe Lord Rhys (talk • contribs).

Good observation Lord Rhys. I seem to notice at least one mistake in the image however, I believe it is supposed to be Haldar instead of Haldor. To keep this wiki-related I think it would be a good idea if we write an article about Twins in Middle-earth since it seems to be a rather popular theme. I am not doctor but I believe having twins is only related to the female partner so descendants of the male twin having twins would only be a coincidence. It's possible twins were simply more common in Arda. Thanks for bringing this up though and we look forward to your future edits :) --Hyarion 14:04, 10 November 2006 (EST)

Twins is a common feature in mythology and fiction. Probably too common, as the chances of having a twin is one in sixty. I wonder if Tolkien ever commented on the extraordinary frequency among the elves. I don't believe it is referred to in The Laws and Customs of the Eldar. --Narfil Palùrfalas 14:16, 10 November 2006 (EST)

I started an article on Twins in middle-earth (I accidently didn't capitalize Middle-earth). It could use some work. Thanks for pointing out my spelling error! --The Lord Rhys 16:36, 10 November 2006 (EST)

Great work, I've gone ahead and moved it to Twins since it's not necessarily only about the ones who lived in Middle-earth. I guess we could say "in Arda" but might as well keep it simple. --Hyarion 16:49, 10 November 2006 (EST)

I am by no means an expert, but I took an agriculture class in high school and my teacher said that it had to do with homozygosity(sorry if that spelling is wrong, its been awhile). It basically means that if you find a trait in a certain species, say cows, and they have a tendency to give birth to twins, which is a plus if you are selling the calves off for beef, then they will try to keep that trait going. In cattle, though, this means that they breed withing the immediate biological "family". While this may seem disturbing it happens alot in the animal world. My teacher also went on to say animals such as cows, sheep, etc. do not have sex for the pleasure, it is a pure instinctual action to keep the population going, so any moral dilemmas with incest are unkown to animals. While this is not true with Elves, they do have morals, they also don't increase their species heterozygosity any by mating with other Elves, eventually they would all have been having "relations" with family members. I hope I explained myself well, and I will see if I can find my old notes to back this up.--Quidon88 14:25, 13 March 2007 (EDT)